Boy who bakes cookbook

This is a mini post today, as I’ve been very busy. I have things that I want to write about on the blog – whole books even – but my days are hectic and brain consuming at the moment and I feel a bit more like sitting quietly doing some cross stitch (I must share soon the little Christmassy designs and the very unChristmassy design that I’ve been working on since the mumps) or possibly reading a little. Last night I went out for a run even though I was very tired and when I came back I was so tired that Mr W had to make me dinner or I would have just eaten cheesy wotsits and M and S gluten free chocolate cake for dinner.

But I do have a bake to share from one of my new cookery books and it is a surprisingly super easy bake that I am likely to make again very soon. The cookbook is The boy who bakes by the winner of last year’s Great British Bake Off Ed Kimber, and the bake is PB and J bars aka shortbread base with a layer of peanut butter with a layer of raspberry jam and topped off with shortbread crumble. I made it with gluten free flour and it was literally melt in the mouth – the saltiness of the PB married up beautifully with the jammy sweetness and I just love crumble toppings. Beautiful (obviously the taste rather than this rubbish picture which was taken at night and doesn’t even get a sense of the layers in it!)

I often find the more baking books I have, the fewer things there are I want to bake from them. It can get a little repetitive. The nice thing is about this book is that it has a good assortment of slightly off centre bakes, and what is particularly good is that there aren’t too many cupcake recipes and those that are included are nice and innovative – chai tea and milk chocolate or tiramisu. It’s nice that this is a book written by a man; I have a number of male friends who bake, and plenty more who should be encouraged to, and I think that having a book of cake recipes by a man is more likely to inspire them than some of the more obviously girly books on the market.

I’m going to have a play around with that recipe, as I think it would be a nice way to use up some of my mincemeat. Not with the peanut butter – I’m not convinced that that would be a winning combination, but the idea of a shortbread base, filling and crumbly topping.